Submission Procedures

Read all instructions carefully. Failure to follow instructions will result in automatic rejection of your submission.

TESL-EJ publishes original articles, books, or monographs in the research and practice of English as a second, additional, or foreign language. TESL-EJ welcomes studies in ESL/EFL pedagogy, second language acquisition, language assessment, applied socio- and psycholinguistics, and other related areas, for quarterly publication. As with any journal, the purpose of publication is to advance knowledge of the field under study. Readers, whether novice or advanced professionals, must be able to take away something new from every published article. In particular, studies which are based on observations in a single country must demonstrate a connection to extant literature and practice in other world contexts. Articles that are intended for a specialized audience, without practical implications for teachers or learners, would be better submitted to an appropriate journal dealing with that aspect of Applied Linguistics.

Please note that literature reviews must critically review current knowledge and indicate areas where further research is required. Take care with papers considered to be “action research” as they are often unsuitable due to issues such as theoretical grounding, N-size, generalizability, and other factors.

Suggestions for your title:

While TESL-EJ has no limitation on title length, succinct titles that fit on one line appear more attractive and professional.
Avoid mentioning the country name in the title. This can imply that your research is not applicable elsewhere.
There is no need to mention the methodology employed such as “a mixed-methods approach” in the title. Save it for the abstract.

TESL-EJ publishes quarterly. Submissions may take between 6 to 9 months from initial submission to publication. Since TESL-EJ is an online journal, the length of articles is not an important factor, although readability and conciseness are essential factors.

Articles

Manuscripts are submitted through our submissions site: http://teslej-sub.org. Registration is required. Through this site, you will find all the relevant information about the submission process, and be able to track the status of your manuscript at any time.

Articles, reviews, or forum discussion should conform generally to the American Psychological Association format and prepared in .doc/.docx or in RTF format. Please put all figures and tables in place in the text (rather than at the end). Format as tables, not as columns using tabs. The TESL-EJ format departs from the standard APA 7 style in these significant ways:

Figures go below the relevant graphic rather than above.
The titles of both tables and figures go on a single line, rather than one below the other.
There is a period after the table or figure number.
Do not start your article with the heading “Introduction” if it is possible to employ a more descriptive heading instead. Otherwise, omit it.
TESL-EJ employs a 3-level heading system, rather than the 5-level system recommended by APA. All headings are flush left.

Please note that TESL-EJ has no restrictions on the length of articles, but articles that appear to be excessively long may be rejected. Clarity and conciseness will be appreciated.

All manuscripts involving experiments with human subjects (student or teachers) must contain a statement that they have followed the ethical guidelines of their region and institution, particularly concerning the receipt of informed consent. All papers must comply with our full statement of “Author’s Ethical Responsibilities” listed here.

Notes should be endnotes, and kept to a minimum. Endnotes should be numbered, using square brackets, consecutively within the text. For example:

…this unusual methodology [1]…

These notes will link to the actual endnotes.

The editors reserve the right to reject without review poorly edited, incorrectly submitted, or improperly formatted manuscripts. The primary reason for initial rejection of manuscripts is because of incomplete or incorrectly submitted work. See both the TESL-EJ Style Sheet and “Tips for Authors” for complete information. Read all instructions carefully, and follow them strictly.

Articles: Full-length articles should include an abstract of no more than 200 words. Before accepting any article for publication, the assigned co-editor shall solicit recommendations from two or more qualified reviewers. These reviewers will be members of the TESL-EJ Editorial Board, Board of Reviewers, or other qualified experts. See our guidelines for reviewers here. The reviewers of accepted articles are listed in each issue in the “From the editors” column. Questions about submissions can be sent to submissions@tesl-ej.org.

Submission Preparation Checklist
As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission’s compliance with all listed items, and submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines will be automatically rejected.

All information on the submission page is completely filled out, including affiliation and bio statement. The bio statement should be in prose form and indicate research interests, employment history, or other pertinent facts about the author(s).
The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
The main, anonymized document must include the title, abstract, the text body followed by the references. The abstract should be of no more than 200 words. Note that if you copy and paste from Microsoft Word, you may encounter inaccurate word counts. It is best to type into the abstract field, or copy and paste from a text-only document.
The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, or RTF document file format.
Where available, URLs for the references, as well as DOIs have been provided.
The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements of current APA 7 formatting.
If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in ensuring a blind review have been followed. This means that all identifying information on the authors, including any publications, your school, etc. must be removed from the version that you submit for double-blind review. Pay special attention to your personal info in the MS Word “Properties”.
The work is the original work of the author. All work of others is properly cited.
Number of submissions: Please submit only one proposal at a time for consideration.

Special Issues: Potential editors for special issues should query the Editor.

Books and Monographs: Please query the Editor before submitting book or monograph manuscripts.

Other TESL-EJ sections:

Book Reviews: Please read the Book Review Policies.

Media Reviews: Please read the Media Review Policies.

On the Internet: Editors Dr. Omran Akasha and Dr. Mark Feng Teng, more information can be found here TESL-EJ OTI Submission Page